The present invention is directed to devices and methods for generating light with plasma lamps. More particularly, the present invention provides plasma lamps driven by a radio-frequency source without the use of electrodes inside the bulb and related methods. In a specific embodiment, a coaxial type coupling module is used to drive an electrodeless bulb. Merely by way of example, such plasma lamps can be applied to applications such as stadiums, security, parking lots, military and defense, street lighting, large and small buildings, vehicle headlamps, aircraft landing, bridges, warehouses, UV water treatment, agriculture, architectural lighting, stage lighting, medical illumination, microscopes, projectors and displays, any combination of these, and the like.
Plasma lamps provide extremely bright, broadband light, and are useful in applications such as general illumination, projection systems, and industrial processing. The typical plasma lamp manufactured today contains a mixture of gas and trace substances that is excited to form a plasma using a high current passed through closely-contacting electrodes. This arrangement, however, suffers from deterioration of the electrodes inside the bulb, and therefore a limited lifetime. Other limitations also exist with conventional plasma lamps.
From the above, it is seen that techniques for improving plasma lamps are highly desirable.